Глава 14

Ripples cause her silhouette to waver, no longer clear.

When I heard you sound the knell for yourself by the river, I was already waiting for an old friend to appear on this side.

*sigh* A pity Laqeramaline is still unwilling to involve herself in this war.

Mother... she did indeed rescue me from death.

With an ingenious method, but one befitting her former character.

She has also made her choice, as you have.

I saw you confronting the myriad souls, no less impressive than the time your mother and I stood side by side in battle.

I'll have no way of seeing her again. Say farewell to her for me, Logos.

Your Highness, your figure is fading—

Departure is also a form of resistance. This is what we've chosen for ourselves.

Originium shall not cage us here for eternity.

I... don't understand. Where did the cage come from, and what do you seek for?

There's no need to comprehend it, Logos.

You need only know the trapped myriad souls are now dissipating into freedom via a complicated flow of information impossible to parse.

No longer readable, recordable—

'A true death'.

All kings and heroes will no longer respond to my words, and no longer will anyone be on the other side...

Your Highness, will the myriad souls still exist after today?

No.

Will there be ferrymen with an array on torches lighting up the other side?

No more.

Then where will our kin go, when they leave us?

I don't know... I'm afraid it's too late for me to find that answer.

I've walked to the end, and the truth of civilization lies before me in fog. There is no way for me to touch it, but it does not mean the rest of you cannot cross it.

Your Highness...?

*chuckle* I've just unloaded the burden of worrying for the future. What the myriad souls care about is only the Sarkaz.

'From death comes new life'... you understand the inevitability of fate, but you have yet to clearly perceive the truth of death.

The myriad souls are no longer our shackles, and Originium will no longer be the sin we bear.

Logos, our departure also serves as our liberation.

No longer will there be prolonged indignant murmuring for a myriad years, nor an unforgettable legacy of suffering to be inherited.

For the first time we have a future that can be changed.

'For the first time we have the right to choose.'

*hiss*... *huff*...

No surrendering here. Only death.

Y-You don't have to kill me...

Just look at the bloody crystals on my body... ugh... and my comrades... they haven't appeared from the fog...

I can't live on—I don't want to die—

Heh.

The mercenary's blade stops right before it makes contact with the dying soldier.

He looks toward the sky, and feels something leaving. The impatience to kill gradually fades away from inside him.

...Gah. Did I imagine that?

*sobs*...

...Heh.

'The Sarkaz will no longer need to live for the shackles of history.'

'We will live simply for survival. Resist against suffering the exact same way as everyone else does on this land.'

No, my ball of yarn!

Caught you. Careful, Paprika.

Phew! Thanks! Y-You can put me down now, Ines!

We'll find a way to rescue Amiya and the rest, so don't panic.

Your life is worth more than these few balls of yarn.

...But my Nana gave them to me before I left home...

Huh...? Wait, did you feel that, Ines?

Feel what?

A pounding in the depths of your soul.

I was concentrating on the skeleton. I need to make sure it stays somewhere safe—somewhere no one can locate or affect it.

Paprika, what did it feel like exactly, and will it affect any future plans?

I-I can't say. But... from everyone's faces, it seems like it wasn't just me!

You're... crying?

Oh, you're right! But... why?

'But what about you?'

'Me? The same as every other Sarkaz.'

'Depart. Dissipate. Die.'

'Please continue accompanying Rhodes Island on their path. There's no need to doubt your decision.'

'Thank you, Logos.'

Your Highness, perhaps you may share my doubts on whether the myriad souls' departure will truly allow us to bid farewell to the past...

The other side will be bare, but where will the plague of death from this battlefield send the souls of our kin to?

Your Highness, I will witness our end in your stead.

The ferry is no more, so I shall guide the souls.

If they have nowhere to go, I shall be their boat.

My voice will set the torches on the other side aflame, and I hereby vow—

Only when I no longer hear the roaring of my kin on the other side...

When our compatriots can rest in peace on this land...

Will the knell cease to ring.

Ripples form on the golden water as the myriad souls respond.

Kings and heroes, regular spirits or resentful wraiths, they leave with haste.

Traces of the Sarkaz existing within Originium dissipate.

Now... please allow me to send both you and the myriad souls off.

An elegy sounds from his lips as he readies to walk over the water.

The young Banshee sends the myriad souls off.

(Indistinct Sarkaz language) ...Leave... Patriarch...

She is gone.

(Ancient Sarkaz language) 'Amnannam' has bloomed, destiny already in our hands.

She honored her vow, so the war will also abide by her.

Go, no longer shroud yourself with the fog. Water death with death, and honor departure with victory.

Victoria's condolences... I shall personally receive it in her stead.

The blue fowlbeast pecks at the tears of the white-horned demon.

She caresses the fowlbeast's feathers on its brow—Can Nightingale's inherently empty soul feel the pain of that departure?

Liz... did you feel that?

The throbbing in our souls, lamenting whispers echoing in our minds.

The corners of Liz's eyes twitch minutely, unable to respond in her deep slumber.

Shining, is her condition worsening?

No, she'll be fine.

Margaret, we have to meet with the Doctor and the others with haste.

...Is it because of that thing transforming in the sky earlier?

When it began changing, you started acting strange.

Is this another Confessarius conspiracy too?

No... at the very least, he will be unable to involve himself in this matter for the time being.

Though it definitely has a link to his schemes.

Every Sarkaz has probably felt it—the departure of someone extremely important to us all.

Hm... I can't fully comprehend what exactly you're talking about, but any new accidents in our current situation might affect how the war will go.